Running contests on the site can do wonders for building a reputation and establishing a brand.

When properly executed, a giveaway can bring you new readers, traffic and can boost engagement on your existing content.

Luckily, thanks to WordPress community, there are plenty of WordPress giveaway plugins and tools. They will make hosting a contest on your blog seem like child’s play.

Benefits of Organizing WordPress Giveaways

Hosting a giveaway is a popular way to introduce a new product or service. People want the chance to get stuff for free. If you give them that opportunity, most will seize it.

Contents can provide enormous benefits to your company or site. When you run a contest on WordPress (or on any website), it’s going to be shared across social media.

More exposure means more business attention and more visitors to your WordPress website.

Giveaways when properly done can bring you:

#1. More followers and fans – All it takes is promoting your giveaway on social media, and you’ll see follower count increase. People love contests and free stuff. Might as well benefit from that fact, right?

#2. More comments likes and overall engagement – If entry methods are to make a comment, like Facebook Page, tweet or engage in some other way, you’ll see your likes and comments skyrocket.

Gleam vs Rafflecopter vs PromoSimple? Which one for WordPress Giveaways

So you decided to organize a giveaway on your WordPress website. The simplest way is using a 3rd party giveaway tool or WordPress giveaway plugin.

Most popular giveaway tools are currently Gleam, Rafllecopter, and PromoSimple.

They can be used on WordPress websites, and some also have WordPress plugin for easier integration with our beloved CMS.

All three tools have free versions but also come in the form of paid pricing plans for those which want additional features.

The big advantage of this tools is that you don’t need to have the plugin installed to host a giveaway on your WordPress site.

If you intend to make giveaway few times a year or even once a month, there is no need for a plugin to just “collect dust” in your WordPress admin.

1. Rafflecopter

Rafflecopter is a popular free tool for giveaway creation which provides a simple and easy way to run and manage a giveaway.

You can set tasks for users to perform in exchange of entries into the giveaway.

These tasks can include sharing content on social media channels, making comments, joining a mailing list, etc.

Each task spreads the word about your website and keeps your users engaged.

You don’t need to edit any code or even install a plugin to add a Rafflecopter giveaway to your WordPress site.

How to Create a Rafflecopter Giveaway?

First, you need to sign up for a Rafflecopter account. The basic account is free, but they do have paid plans with additional features.

The business plan does not have Rafflecopter branding in the widget, and it also has some features to boost the viral reach of a giveaway campaign.

Paid plans go from $13 per month for basic to $84 per month for premium pricing plan.

After sign up, you will be taken to Rafflecopter dashboard. Click on +New Giveaway to create your first giveaway.

On the next page, you will see a form to create your giveaway. The first thing you need to do is give a title for your giveaway.

This will help you organize your giveaways on the Rafflecopter dashboard.

Next, add the prizes you want to include in the giveaway. With the free account, you can’t insert an image of the award.

You can still include images on your WordPress giveaways post or pages just by adding the list of prizes on post or page where you are hosting the giveaway.

The next option is to choose how people can enter the giveaway. Option to Refer a Friend is available for business accounts only.

Click on Add an Option to see a list of choices that you can add. These are tasks that you can ask the user to perform to enter the giveaway.

You can add multiple options and give your users opportunity to maximize their chances of winning while also spreading the word about your website.

A useful option is “choose your own task.” It can be used to create various giveaway options. For instance, you can enter your Google+ URL and allow users to add you to their circles.

Or maybe you may want to enter RSS feed URL and require users to subscribe. The possibilities are only as limited as your creativity.

With Rafflecopter you can choose a winner or let Rafflecopter pick it for you.

Each giveaway has detailed report (in a spreadsheet format) of each user and entry methods. That comes in handy when checking the validity of entries.

When the giveaway is over Rafflecopter will display the winner(s) on the widget. So anyone that goes back to the widget after the giveaway has ended will be able to see a winner.

Rafflecopter Free vs Paid Pricing Plan

Free account options:

Tweet about the giveaway

Like a page on Facebook

Follow an account on Twitter

Leave a comment on a blog post

Create your own option

Paid account options:

Create a Poll / Survey

Join a mailing list

Users can pin an image on Pinterest

Follow on Pinterest

Add image to giveaway

Refer a friend option

Remove branding

After adding the entry options, the final step is to choose the start and end dates of your giveaway.

Lastly, you need to enter terms and conditions of the giveaway and you are set.

Adding Rafflecopter Giveaway in WordPress

Once you have created your giveaway, click on the Get Widget button. Rafflecopter will give you a code which you can paste into WordPress to display the giveaway widget.

Copy the code and go to your WordPress admin area. Create a new post or page for your giveaway. Switch to text editor mode and paste the code.

If you want to edit your giveaway, log into your Rafflecopter account and edit giveaway.

There is no need to update code after changes. Changes are automatically applied.

If you are using a visual editor to create your posts, then you need to switch to a text editor before you paste the Rafflecopter code. If the widget does not appear on your page or post, then refresh the page.

For now, Rafflecopter doesn’t have official WordPress plugin which can be used instead of copy/paste giveaway code on the desired page.

2. Gleam

If you enter a lot of online giveaways, at some point you encountered Gleam giveaway widgets. They’re used on blogs, websites and Facebook pages.

Gleam is an online application designed to help you drive more action and value. You can create sophisticated campaigns for any business objectives.

To get started signup for an account and add your site. You can add more than one site. Each site has its own sections, so it is easy to be organized.

Gleam giveaways can have one or more entry tasks which can be mandatory or optional.

When the giveaway ends, Gleam chooses a random winner from all entries. You can then contact winners via email and decide to display the winner’s name and photo on the widget.

Gleam giveaways are much quicker to enter than Rafflecopter. Tasks like tweeting or following on Instagram can be done with a single click, rather than copying and pasting links or waiting for pop-ups to load.

Although this makes life easier for the entrant, it does make it harder for the giveaway organizer to check if entries have been completed.

The giveaway organizer can choose that login is needed to participate or without the need for logging. Login methods are usually email, Facebook, and Twitter.

You can even enable an option that entrant needs to put a name, email address, postal address, etc.

How Does Gleam Giveaway Tool Work?

To use Gleam apps, you will need to add a site to your account. You should have already added a site during sign-up which will be your default.

Gleam makes it easy to switch and add more sites. To add a new site just click the drop down in the left navigation and select “Add Site.”

If you have multiple sites added to your Gleam account, then you must pay separately for each site for wish you want to upgrade package plan.

This can be a blog post, a static page or wherever else you can think of. If you are a Shopify user, you can automatically embed Gleam inside a page during install (provided you have added the Gleam Shopify App).

2. Javascript Overlay – This is only available in Business Plan. Users can click to enter the competition from any page you include the javascript snippet on.

You can also automatically trigger this overlay by using #gleam as the link.

The beauty of this flexibility means that you can create your own competition landing pages then trigger Gleam on a button, or however, you want.

3. Facebook – You have the option to embed automatically in Facebook during installation.

Gleam allows you to set particular entry actions as repeatable every day. Tweets, sharing to Facebook, visiting the site… You can continue to bring users back to the competition (and potentially, the rest of your site), day after day.

Gleam forms are responsive and look good on mobile devices when served directly. When embedded on the page, they’re still subjected to the whims of the site.

Providing a quick link for mobile users is all that’s needed to take them to a perfectly formatted mobile entry form.

Except for free plan, there is Pro package for $39 a month and Business pricing plan for $149 a month.

Choosing The Winner in Gleam

When the giveaway has ended, you have an option to generate a random winner. The winning entry will be a single task.

For example, it could be a YouTube channel subscribe or a Facebook page visit.

You should check that particular winning task was done correctly. Also, check any other mandatory tasks completed by that person.

For example, the winning entry might be a tweet, but if the entrant didn’t also leave a mandatory blog comment, they wouldn’t be eligible to win.

If the winner didn’t enter correctly, you can invalidate that winning entry. Then just click again to choose a new winner.

But this is little complicated and tricky if you are using free plan. Except manually checking if entries are really done, free plan users only have access to the winning entry.

To bypass that problem simply set all tasks to optional or have a single, easy to check mandatory task like a blog comment.

You can choose to display the winner’s name on the Gleam widget. This is usually done when the winner has responded to the winning email, and all is set.

3. PromoSimple

PromoSimple is a self-service application that provides brands, websites and bloggers the tools to easily setup, launch and track the results of online sweepstakes and promotions.

To use PromoSimple giveaway tool, you will need to create an account.

With the PromoSimple platform, you can create custom designed giveaway entry forms and integrate actions on social media networks.

They offer a Basic (FREE) version for those looking to access features such as integrating social networks and running promotions on Facebook.

There are also a variety of additional plans available for those with specific requirements. Paid plans start at $15 per month (Blog) to run an unlimited number of giveaways.

Features such as customizing Facebook ‘Like’ gates or running white label campaigns with more advanced features are included in Business and Agency pricing plans.

NOTE: Comparison table was made taking into consideration entry options initially provided by giveaway tool. Please check the official site before any decision because data in this comparison table may become outdated.

WordPress Giveaways Plugins and Tools Alternatives

Here are other free WordPress giveaway plugins and tools which you can use:

1. Giveaway Tools is a free Web application that creates an embeddable entry form for contests and giveaways.

It is incredibly easy to use. All you have to do is choose the settings and options for your giveaway, and you will receive a small piece of code to place wherever you want your entry form to appear.

2. Golden Ticket Plugin – This is something different than tools mentioned above, and it is not really a giveaway plugin. But it has an interesting concept, so I decided to mention it.

The idea behind the Golden Ticket plugin is to incentive interaction on your WordPress site.

Essentially, the golden ticket is like a prize the user has to hunt to win the reward.

You can create multiple golden tickets and hide them throughout your content.

The golden ticket will pop into view after triggered by an action, which you can define in the settings.

It’s not your traditional giveaway plugin, but it’s likely more accurate at rewarding those who are genuinely interested in your content, instead of randomly selecting from visitors who are only interested in the prize.

NOTE: This plugin has not been updated for over two years.

WordPress Giveaway Plugin / Tool Final Words

If you are trying to build up an audience quickly, or want to do some promotions for your websites, creating a contest or sweepstake could be an excellent idea.

Working with a WordPress site means you need to think about plugin and external contest solutions.

You need to think of how a contest would be presented on your site and how it would be integrated into social media.

Running a contest on WordPress is so much more than just gathering entries to give away a prize.

It’s about laying the foundation to build a solid brand reputation. That’s worth much more. With so many tools available, it’s hard to go wrong.

Here are few tips to keep in mind when creating WordPress giveaways:

Keep it brief – Set the contest duration to a short period. Between a week and a month is typical. Make sure the entry options are brief and to-the-point.

There’s no need to write a book. Just tell people how to enter and trust they’ll do it.

Follow through – Don’t stop your efforts as soon as the promotion is done. It’s vital that you keep up the hard work and continue to engage with your new followers.

Site related – Your contests or giveaways need to be related to your industry and what you’re offering as a brand for them to be effective.

Hope above content helped, and now you have some ideas to create giveaways. If you have used any of above-mentioned tools or plugins or know better, let me know in comments below.

About Article Author

Kasa

I love making websites, especially in WordPress. Hope reading content on this website you will find helpful tips, tutorials, comparisons, and product reviews which will help improve your site and skyrocket your business.

Nice article. People loves free stuff, giving out giveaways are such an excellent strategy to attract new customers. I used Rafflecopter for a while now I am using Woorise to run my giveaways. Thank you for sharing!

One of the most important features, is the refer a friend so you can virally share the content and therefore get more chances to win. Unfortunatelly that feature everyone charge it very expensive, as gleam or others. They don’t think / care for the small pages that just want to create fun for their users. Kingsumo is a good alternative but at least for me it created many bugs and their support wasn’t so helpful. Yet to find something else.

Promosimple is great unless you need customer support – if you do – forget it. I had a problem and got no help whatsoever. My giveaway bombed because of these guys. I was a paying customer (not a free user). I wouldn’t touch these guys if you want to run a successful giveaway.